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Posted on
March 05, 2015 by ADMIN

Wenger takes NO credit for Arsenal star´s resurgence

I bet there were not many Arsenal fans who saw this coming. We might have wanted Arsene Wenger to give Francis Coquelin more of a chance in previous seasons, especially as the team´s need for a defensive midfielder was often glaringly obvious and caused us to fall short of our targets.

But after the French player´s less than impressive performances when he did get his chance with Arsenal, combined with his failure to really catch fire during any of his three spells away from the club on loan, most if not all of us I had think had written him off.

So I had to give credit to Arsene Wenger for keeping him and then recalling him from Charlton with great effect this season. The manager, however, is claiming no credit for Coquelin´s turnaround in form. As revealed in an ESPN, Wenger admits that he was about ready to let the young player go at the start of this season and that it was Coquelin himself who got his career going again.

The Gunners boss said, “He was not [part of Wenger´s plans]. I told him to give absolutely everything until Christmas, then we would see together where he was. If you respect that you have done a big part of your job.

“In myself, I thought if he doesn’t play at Christmas at all, and there’s only six months of his contract to go, I [would] let him go somewhere else.

“It is a surprise to everybody. The only thing I do is that I never say never to anybody. In my job you have to be open-minded like that. You have to make decisions at times, but never close the door completely for anybody.”

The manager also believes that it is all the previous disappointments that have spurred the player on to grab his chance this time, especially as he thought he would just be sitting on the bench again.

Wenger continued, “He wasn’t happy when I called him back [from his loan spell]. He played there and he thought I just called him back as cover. He expected in fact to play against QPR and was not playing and was surprised when I played him against West Ham.

“He knows it’s an opportunity for him now. Sometimes when you wait for such a long time to get your chance and you get it, the more you have suffered before, the more you enjoy it.

“On that front I think he has gone through a lot of doubt, questioning himself, certainly at many times being discouraged that he didn’t get a chance. Now that he has a chance he doesn’t want to let it slip away, but he is a winner and he wants to win, that’s why he is so committed.”

Fair play to the lad. All the plaudits he is now getting are great for him but also good for the club and a great inspiration to the young players in the academy.

So how many actually predicted Coq would suddenly, out of nowhere, emerge as a solid DM???

NOBODY. Coq played for Freiburg last season and was voted the worst acquisition in the Bundelsiga. To be fair he was often played out of position there. But it is not like he had been impressed anyone at all with his play on loan there.

To say that ANYONE should be able to predict the future progression of all players is ridiculous.

Last season Mourinho kept bragging about HIS acquisition – Schurle. He bragged the Schurle would become a Chelsea legend. Shurle is now at Shalke I believe. So much for insight.

No manager, no matter how keen their eye, has a crystal ball to predict the future.

Instead why don’t we PRAISE Wenger for his genius in making the move to recall Coq??

I have been a big Wenger critic when he does stupid things. But we are now apparently supposed to attack him for something he did that turned out well?? Ridiculous.

lol he only brought Coquelin back because he had no other options when everyone else got injured. Things just happened to fall into place. Wenger even admitted he was about to let Coquelin go. And anybody who watched him playing during 12/13 season could see his potential. I thought his career was ruined after the Freiburg loan but thank god he’s getting his chance now.

Never doubted that lad at all…some time i made a comment about us only having him as a DM and some british lad lambasted on to me claiming i don’t know any thing abt the game and went on to argue that Le coq is a B2B but during that very moment he was brought back and the rest is history(flamini was always a red card in waitng)

@butters
I’ve always thought that Le Coq and Frimpong were our only true DM’s, but were never nurtured enough. If either had been given the same chances as Jack or Aaron, then Dench would still be on the roster and he as well as Le Coq would have pushed Mikel and Flame out of the DM spot…

There’s a youtube video from 2012 “Francis Coquelin Arsenals Future” which shows even then he had the skills to fill the spot.